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Heartbreak Baby

Page 163

by Heather Ashley

My brain stalls out because Sumner hates being the center of attention.

But he takes the microphone from Cherry anyway.

I look around. Scout still has her phone aimed right at me. Colston has his out, too. Trace looks like someone just slapped him in the face with the sudden realization of what's happening.

But… what is happening?

Then Sumner reaches into his pocket and drops down onto one knee right in the middle of The Tipsy Mermaid.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

Both of my hands fly up to cover my mouth, tears pricking my eyes as I look from him kneeling at my feet to the gorgeous sparkler gripped between his fingers. “You’re really doing this in the middle of a drag brunch?” I choke out, a wet, hysterical laugh punching through my shock. “Holy shit. Yes. Whatever it is, yes.”

He looks up at me, that breathtaking smile that’s just for me spreading across his face. “You should probably let me ask the question first.”

The room laughs and cheers, but the sound feels like it's a million miles away.

I swipe a rogue tear out from under my eye, trying and failing to pull it together. “Fine. Keep going.”

Sumner lets out a quiet laugh, his smile softening around the edges.

“We’ve done pretty much everything in the wrong order,” he says into the mic, his voice wrapping around me and making the rest of the crowded restaurant disappear.

“That’s us,” I whisper.

“Yeah.” His mouth twitches like he’s trying not to laugh. “We must be crazy.”

I sniff, wiping at my other eye. “Yeah, but you’re crazier. Who tells a girl they just met they’ll knock her up?”

He chuckles, the sound low and rough over the speakers. “Still the best bad decision I ever made.”

He looks up at me for a long second, his dark gaze so steady and full of absolute devotion that a tight, heavy ache blooms right in the center of my chest.

“I know we skipped all the normal steps, and I wouldn’t change a single second of it. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. I want to come home to you, raise this baby with you, and be there for every version of us that comes after this. I want the good days and the shitty ones and all the ordinary ones in between. I want the whole damn life, Goldie. Whatever comes next, I want it with you.”

My chin starts trembling.

Well, fuck. There goes whatever chance I had of keeping it together.

I look down at the ring pinched between his fingers. It’s set in thick yellow gold, holding a massive, kite-shaped salt-and-pepper diamond surrounded by a jagged, asymmetrical halo of smaller black diamonds. It’s bold, loud, and completely non-traditional. Exactly the kind of ring I would’ve picked for myself, which means he fucking nailed it.

Sumner holds my gaze, his voice dropping a little deeper over the speakers. “Goldie Hahn⁠—”

Cherry’s head whips toward me. “Girl, what? Your name is Goldie Hawn?”

“It’s spelled different.”

She stares at me. “How did I not know this?”

“Cherry.” Sumner looks over at her with the most exasperated look I’ve ever seen on his face. “Can I finish proposing to my girlfriend?”

She lifts both hands and takes a step back. “Please. Sorry.”

I bite back a laugh as Sumner turns his attention to me again.